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How do you make your presentation interactive?

There are many online and offline ways to make your presentation interactive, otherwise you are facing the risk of losing your audience’s attention. For example, start with a small dialogue. People are much more alert during a conversation, as they are experiencing the “danger” of not reacting properly. But they relax when this conversation turns into a monologue. Try to keep the audience focused and start using Sendsteps to talk to your audience in your next presentation!

Dynamic interaction in a presentation

There are two types of interaction: dynamic and static. Dynamic interaction has simple offline ways to create and improve your interaction with the audience. Dynamic means all physical forms of interaction that you can use to keep your audience engaged and alert without affecting the contents of your presentation. Below you can see a few examples of dynamic interaction:

1. Let your audience vote by moving

This can be a simple raise of a hand. You could also be creative and have your audience wave, dance or move around the hall. You can make it as fun as it gets! Be prepared to demonstrate first or do it together with your audience, so that nobody feels silly.

2. Use red/green signs

Use different signs or badges to receive your audience’s opinion. It can be very tricky to engage a large group of people and get everyone to express their opinion. You can make your presentation interactive by using red or green signs. This way, you can prevent chaotic movements around the hall where everyone wants to speak out and you can still hear everyone out.

Dynamic interaction in a presentation is a very good way of breaking the ice and engaging the public. But proceed with caution! A lot of physical interaction can become boring. When you ask your audience for interaction but don’t add any actual meaning to it, your story becomes boring and your people lose interest.

Make a static presentation interactive

This empty interaction can be prevented by creating a substantive interaction. In other words, static interaction that you tailor to the input of the audience. They get a sense of appreciation when they are listened to and will give more input. This interaction is easy to create with the Sendsteps online tool and everyone gets a chance to comment. Below are a few concrete examples of static interaction:

1. Use a Q&A session

Sendsteps enable you to have a Q&A session for the duration of your entire presentation. Your audience will simply need to go on the website and ask questions without interrupting you. Make time within your presentation to answer these questions and you will have already created some interaction. This will also give you a nice break from presenting and let you speak to your audience.

2. Ask open questions

By using open questions, you can easily engage the audience and hear everyone out. This lowers the threshold and enables people to open up and provide you with honest and meaningful answers. You can make your presentation interactive by responding to some of these answers.

3. A quiz in between

Why would you have a quiz at the end of your presentation when you can have one in the middle? This will incredibly increase the awareness within your audience. The people can actually engage and not just listen. This can also work as an energizer during a long presentation. A quiz will also allow the presenter to see which covered topics weren’t clear and need to be repeated or skipped.

Say goodbye to a boring presentation and use these interactive tools to make it unforgettable. Turn your next presentation into a conversation and not a monologue, and you will notice the difference in the audience!